Low- and high-fidelity classifiers applied to road-scene images

ABSTRACT

Disclosures herein teach applying a set of sections spanning a down-sampled version of an image of a road-scene to a low-fidelity classifier to determine a set of candidate sections for depicting one or more objects in a set of classes. The set of candidate sections of the down-sampled version may be mapped to a set of potential sectors in a high-fidelity version of the image. A high-fidelity classifier may be used to vet the set of potential sectors, determining the presence of one or more objects from the set of classes. The low-fidelity classifier may include a first Convolution Neural Network (CNN) trained on a first training set of down-sampled versions of cropped images of objects in the set of classes. Similarly, the high-fidelity classifier may include a second CNN trained on a second training set of high-fidelity versions of cropped images of objects in the set of classes.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of andpriority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/444,301, filed Jun. 18,2019, which is a continuation of and claims the benefit of and priorityto U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/995,134, filed Jan. 13, 2016, theentire contents of which are expressly incorporated by references.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to image processing systems and, moreparticularly, to object classification, detection, and/or locatingsystems for images of road scenes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The promises and potential of assisted driving and autonomous drivingtechnologies rely on an ability to quickly and accurately classify,detect, and/or locate oncoming and/or surrounding objects. Varioustechnologies that have been brought to bear to provide quick andaccurate classification, detection, and/or location information includeRadio Detection And Ranging (RADAR) subsystems and Light Detection AndRanging (LIDAR) subsystems, Sound Navigation and Ranging (SONAR)subsystems, and image analysis techniques. With respect to imageanalysis techniques, a camera mounted on a vehicle may capture images ofoncoming and/or surrounding road and/or environment scenes for digitalprocessing.

Over the years, improvements in the techniques applied for imageanalysis, such as the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), havemade impressive gains in the accuracy of image analysis. However,techniques, such as the use of CNNs, can be computationally intense bothto develop and to deploy, raising problems for the requirements toquickly and accurately provide classification, detection, and/orlocation information and/or to flexibly and responsively improveanalysis techniques. Innovations able to maintain gains in accuracywhile successfully managing computation needs could be capitalized uponto improve analyses development. Additionally, such innovations couldbetter bring gains in accuracy to assisted and autonomous driving forpurposes of providing detection, classification, and/or locationinformation and/or providing redundancy to and/or filling in gaps insimilar information provided by other technologies.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the advantages of the disclosures will be readilyunderstood, a more particular description will be rendered by referenceto specific embodiments illustrated in the appended drawings.Understanding that these drawings depict only typical examples and arenot, therefore, to be considered limiting in scope, the invention willbe described and explained with additional specificity and detailthrough use of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a depiction of an automobile equipped with varioustechnologies for capturing information used in assisted and/orautonomous driving technologies, including a camera for capturing imagesof oncoming road scenes, in accordance with examples;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram depicting an example of forward-feedin a Convolution Neural Network (CNN), in accordance with examples;

FIG. 3A is a schematic block diagram depicting a lengthy, exhaustive,sliding-window approach to applying a CNN to an image, together with asegmenting-grid approach used to reduce implementation time, inaccordance with the prior art;

FIG. 3B is a schematic block diagram depicting a selective approachusing context information in applying a CNN that skips over portions ofthe image to which the CNN is applied to reduce computations and time,in accordance with the prior art;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram depicting the creation of alow-fidelity dataset of cropped, labeled, images of classified objectswith which to train a low-fidelity classifier, implementing a CNN, as afirst stage in a multi-stage image analysis system, in accordance withexamples;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram depicting the training of thelow-fidelity classifier with the low-fidelity dataset of images ofdiffering scales and resolutions, in accordance with examples;

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram depicting the training of ahigh-fidelity classifier serving as the second stage in the multi-stageimage-analysis system, the high-fidelity classifier being trained with ahigh-fidelity dataset of cropped, labeled, high-fidelity images ofclassified objects, in accordance with examples;

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram depicting a down-sample moduledown-sampling test images of a road-scene for analysis by the imageanalysis system, in accordance with examples;

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of the application of slidingwindows of various scales to a down-sampled portion of a road scene toabstract segments of the portion of the image for application to alow-fidelity classifier, in accordance with examples;

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram depicting a multi-stage imageanalysis system in which a low-fidelity classifier implementing a firstCNN identifies candidate sections of a down-sampled image of a roadscene as potentially depicting classified objects for confirmation by ahigh-fidelity classifier implementing a second CNN applied tohigh-fidelity versions of the candidate sections, resulting in theclassification, detection, and locating of the depiction of theclassified object in the road-scene image, in accordance with examples;

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram depicting a map module operable tomap a section from a down-sampled image of a road-scene to acorresponding sector in a high-fidelity version of the image; inaccordance with examples; and

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of steps for quick, accurate, and comprehensiveclassification, detection, and locating of objects in images by amulti-stage image analysis system built on a low-fidelity classifier anda high-fidelity classifier, implementing a pair of CNNs, in accordancewith examples.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It will be readily understood that the components of the presentinvention, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein,can be arranged and designed in a wide variety of differentconfigurations. Thus, the following more detailed description, asrepresented in the figures, is not intended to be limiting in scope, asclaimed, but is merely representative of certain examples. The presentlydescribed examples will be best understood by reference to the drawings,wherein like parts are designated by like numerals throughout. In somecases, particular instances of an element in a figure may be identifiedwith an identification number followed by a letter, where the letter maychange from figure to figure for the same identification number,indicating differing instances of the element with the same or varyingattributes. References to such elements by number only in thespecification may refer more generally to a class of such elementsand/or a representative instance of the class.

Referring to FIG. 1 , an automobile 10 is depicted. However, thedisclosures herein may also be applied to other vehicles 10. The vehicle10 may be equipped with various types of instruments capable of sensingand recording signals reflecting various objects, signs, signals and/orthe like that may be relevant to driving the vehicle 10. Non-limitingexamples of such equipment may include a RAdio Detection And Ranging(RADAR) subsystem 12 and a LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) subsystem14. Either the RADAR subsystem 12, the LIDAR subsystem 14, or both,potentially with additional subsystems, may be part of a broader imagingsubsystem. As can be appreciated, the vehicle 10 may be outfitted withother such equipment, such as a SOund NAvigation and Ranging (SONAR)subsystem. Additionally, the vehicle 10 is equipped with a camera 16.

Although a single camera 16 is depicted near the leading edge of theroof of the vehicle 10, any number of cameras 16 may be mounted at anyof a number of locations—for example and without limitation, on thedashboard of the vehicle's interior—to capture images of oncomingroad-scenes and/or the surrounding environment. Such a camera 16 may bea digital camera with a digital image sensor, such as, withoutlimitation, a Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) and/or ComplementaryMetal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS). Furthermore, the camera 16 may be avideo camera capable of capturing images at a frame rate.

In some examples, the frame rate may exceed fourteen frames per second,potentially by many frames per second, to provide images of sufficientrecency to allow for responses to information in the imagescharacteristic of assisted and/or autonomous driving technologies.Additionally, the camera 16 may be responsive to a variety ofwavelengths both inside and outside of the visible range and/or maycapture color information together with the images it captures. Asdepicted in the exploded view of the interior of the mounted cameradevice 16, the camera may be provided with an optical system 18, suchas, without limitation, a monocular system of lenses controlling focus,field of view, magnification, and/or similar parameters.

Images captured by such cameras 16 may be analyzed to renderinformation, such as information classifying, detecting, and/or locatingobjects depicted in such images that are relevant to assisted andautonomous driving systems. In some examples, this information may becombined with information from other subsystems, such as, withoutlimitation, a RADAR subsystem 12 and/or a LIDAR subsystem 14, toprovided redundancy, fill in gaps, and/or improve statistical accuracy.Additionally, or in the alternative, such information from a camera 16may be used on its own for purposes of informing assisted and/orautomated driving systems. However, before such information is appliedin driving systems, it may be extracted from the images by processing.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the use of a Convolution Neural Network (CNN) 20to process images 22 a from the camera 16 is depicted. Although severaldifferent approaches, from rule-based approaches to different types ofmachine-learning approaches, have been applied to image analysis, themost accurate to immerge in recent years have involved the use of CCNs20. An example CNN 20 is depicted in FIG. 2 at various stages ofprocessing a digital, or digitized, image 22 a from a camera 16.

The CNN 20 may be subdivided between a convolution portion 24, with oneor more convolution layers 26 a-n, and a neural-network portion 28. Aconvolution layer 26 n in the convolution portion 24 may include one ormore sublayers. Examples of such sublayers may include, withoutlimitation, a convolution sublayer 30 n, a subsample sublayer 32 n,and/or a non-linear sublayer 34 n, not necessarily in the proceedingorder. Normalization layers provide an additional non-limiting exampleof such sublayers. Each of a convolution sublayer 30 n, a subsamplingsublayer 32 n, and a non-linear sublayer 34 n, may, respectively includeone, but typically more than one, convolution neuron/node 36 a-n,non-linear neuron/node 38 a-n, and/or subsampling neuron/node 40 a-n.

By way of explaining a forward-feed in the convolution portion 24, anexemplary image 22 a is depicted. The image 22 a processed by the CNN 20provides a low-resolution depiction of a stop sign, an important objectto be classified, detected, and/or located for purposes of assistedand/or autonomous driving. The image 22 a may be provided to an inputlayer 42 a of the CNN 20.

For ease of explanation, a simple gray-scale image 22 a is depicted withblack and white cross hatching. In additional examples, an image 22 mayhave multiple channels, as would be the case with colored images. Forexample, and without limitation, the image 22 may be a Red-Green-Blue(RGB) image 22, or an image 22 encoded for a YUV color space. In suchexamples, an individual image 22 may be considered as a threedimensional matrix, with the first two dimensions assigned to the rowsand columns of pixels and a third dimension assigned to the colorchannels. As can be appreciated, a third dimension could also be usedfor other types of information, such as stereoscopic information wheremultiple cameras 16 are used to capture a road scene from multipleangles.

With respect to the first convolution layer 26 a, at the firstconvolution sublayer 30 a, a different, individual, first-layer filter,or kernel, 46 a-n for each of convolution neurons/nodes 36 a-n in thefirst sublayer 30 a, with dimensions for its two-dimensionalweights/values smaller than those of the dimensions of the image 22 a,may be convolved with the image 22 a-n. Example numbers of neurons/nodes36 a-n may include, without limitation, values from four to forty.During the training process for the CNN 20, each filter 46 a-m may cometo approximate one or more features of objects in the set of classifiedobjects for which the CNN 20 is being trained. Since convolution can beused to determine the similarity between functions, by convolving theimage 22 a with a first-layer filter 46, a feature map may be producedindicating the various degrees to which features represented in thefirst-layer filter 46 are present in different regions of the image 22a.

Although different forms of convolution may be applied at convolutionneurons/nodes 36 a-n, in some examples consistent with the gray-scaleimage 22 a depicted in FIG. 2 , each weight/value in a first-layerfilter 46 a-n may be multiplied by the underlying values used to renderthe image 22 a on which it is overlaid and the products may be summed ina single cell in a resultant feature map. Hence, each pixel in theresultant feature map may be viewed as the dot product of a portion ofthe image 22 of dimensions equal to those of the first-layer filter 46a-n applied thereto.

After the dot product of the first-layer filter 46 a-n and the firstportion of the image 22 a is calculated, convolution may proceed bysliding, either horizontally, vertically, or both by one or more pixels,the first-layer filter 46 relative to the underlying image 22 a andcomputing another dot product with respect to the new correspondingportion of the image 22 a, which will overlap the first portion. Acorresponding convolution neuron/node 36 may continue to calculate dotproducts, ordering them in the rows and columns of the resultant featuremap until the first-layer filter 46 has been applied across the entireunderlying image 22 a, or matrix 22 a where the image 22 includesmultiple information channels. Consequently, without padding, and if thefirst-layer filter 46 a-n is slid only one pixel for each dot product,the resultant matrix will have its first two dimensions equal to thoseof the underlying image/matrix less the dimensions of the first-layerfilter 46 plus one in each dimension.

Consequently, the small first-layer filter 46, relative to thedimensions of the image 22 a, can capitalize on the relatively highlocal signal correlation in images 22, without being burdened with thelow correlation over large distances. Additionally, since the smallfirst-layer filter 46 is slid over the image 22 a, the ability torecognize features is position invariant. By providing multiplefirst-layer filters 46 a-n, feature maps may be produced for severaldifferent features. In examples in which the image 22 has multiple imagechannels, resulting in a three, or more, dimensional matrix, first-layerfilters 46 a-n, as well as subsequent layer filters 46 na-nn may also beprovided with a third dimension, or more. Such three-dimensional filters46 may provide an individual two-dimension filter for each image channelof the image 22.

In some examples, a non-linear sublayer 32 a may be included to apply anon-linear function to values in the matrix produced by the convolutionsublayer 30 a. The resultant non-linearities allow additionalconvolution layers 26 b-n to make contributions, which could not be madeif the feed-forward process were purely linear. Non-limiting examples ofsuch a function that may be applied include a sigmoid function and/or ahyperbolic tangent function.

Subsampling neurons/nodes 40 a-n in the first subsampling sublayer 34 amay also be applied. In some examples, such neurons/nodes 40 a-n may beoperable to implement max-pooling, whereby a set of cells from aresultant matrix is replaced by a single cell having a value equal tothe maximum value for cells in the set of cells. However, other forms ofpooling, such as, without limitation, average pooling may beimplemented. The number of cells pooled into a single cell may include,without limitation, four to one, nine to one, sixteen to one, and so on.Not only may a subsampling sublayer 34 be used to reduce storage, but itmay also provide local invariance and resilience to perturbation.

A set of convolved, non-linearly mapped, and sub-sampled feature maps 48a-n downstream from the first convolution layer 26 a, with smallerdimensions than those of the original image 22 a are depicted in FIG. 2. At this point, the CNN 20 may provide the advantages of deep learningby including multiple convolution layers 26 a-n. These convolutionlayers 26 a-n may be arranged hierarchically such that successive filter46 at convolution sublayers 30 may be determined by the presence ofhigher and higher level, or more abstract, features.

With respect to the activation of neurons/nodes between convolutionlayers 26, feature maps 48 resulting from a previous convolution layer26 may activate convolution neurons/nodes 36 in a subsequent convolutionlayer 26. In some examples, each feature map 48 from a previousconvolution layer 26 may activate an individual convolution neuron/node36 at a subsequent convolution layer 26. Additionally, or in thealternative, after the first convolution layer 26 a, resultant featuremaps 48 may be combined in a subsequent convolution layer 26.

Such combinations may be performed at single convolution neurons/nodes30, wherein the corresponding filter 46, which may have at least threedimensions, one of which describing a number of feature maps 48 beingcombined. Such filters 46 may be thought of as having a volume.Dimensions beyond three, may be used, for example and withoutlimitation, for attributes such as image channels. Resulting featuremaps 48 combining previous feature maps, may depict the degree to whichfeatures from various previous filters 46 may be conjoined withindifferent regions of the image 22. Where resultant feature maps 48 froma previous convolution layer 26 are combined, all of the feature maps 48from a previous layer 26 may be combined in a subsequent feature map 48and/or one or more subsets of the previous feature maps 48 may becombined in one or more subsequent feature maps 48. In many examples, itmay be helpful to expand the number of convolution neurons/nodes 36 in asubsequent convolution layer 26. However, for some subsequentconvolution layers 26 it may also be helpful to reduce the number.

The number of convolution layers 26 may vary, with non-limiting examplenumbers including numbers two through twenty, potentially making theconvolution portion 24 a deep network. As processing progresses throughconvolution layers 26, the resulting feature maps 48 may become smallerand smaller, approaching the size of the filters 46 with which they areconvolved. Eventually, in some examples, either the height, width, orboth dimensions of an iteration of feature maps 48 may equal those ofthe filters 46 to which they are applied, resulting in scalars and/orvectors. Also, in some examples, a subsampling sublayer 32 may result inscalars or vectors. Such scalars and/or vectors may be the output of theconvolution portion 24 and the input to the classifier/neural-networkportion 28

As with the convolution portion 24, the number of layers 54 a-n, whichmay be referred to as hidden layers 54 a-n, may vary, with non-limitingexample numbers including numbers two through twelve. Also, as with thenon-linear sublayers 34 in the convolution portion 24, the hidden layers54 a-n in the neural-network portion 28 may apply a non-linear function.Within the neural-network portion 28, two adjacent sublayers 54 may befully connected, such that the output of each neural/node 52 in thefirst sublayer 54 a may be duly weighted and communicated to activateeach neuron/node 52 in the second sublayer 54 b.

In such examples, the weight/value applied to the input of eachneuron/node 52 in the second sublayer 54 b may depend on the originatingneuron/node 52 in the first sublayer 54 a, the neuron/node 52 in thesecond sublayer 54 b being activated, and/or both. Additionally, a biasweight/value 58 may be applied to one or more sublayers 54. In someexamples, one or more bias values 58 may also be applied in one or moreconvolution layers 26. Consequently, a progression from one layer 54 toanother layer 54 in the classifier portion 28, may result in anon-linear, weighted sum, to which a bias value 58 may be added, at eachneuron/node 52 in the subsequent layer 54. In addition, or inalternative to fully connected layers 54, layers 54 may also beconnected in other ways, such as, without limitation, with a Gaussianstyle connection.

The result of processing by the neural-network portion 28 may berecorded in an output layer 58. The output layer 58, may provide anumber of output nodes 60 a-n, where each output node 60 provides aprobability value indicating a probability that the image 22 a depictsan object, sign, signal, or the like classifiable within a correspondingcategory/class from a set of classes/categories for which the CNN 20 istrained, or for which the CNN 20 is being trained. For example, theoutput neuron/node 60 a assigned to the class/category for stop signsdisplays a check symbol, symbolic of a probability value indicative ofthe image 22 a depicting a stop sign, whereas, the ‘x’ in the otheroutput neuron/node 60 n indicates that an object pertaining to thatoutput neuron/node 60 n is probably not depicted.

As can be appreciated, the number of calculations involved in theforward feed on a CNN 20 is quite large. Fortunately, most of thecalculations are simple multiplication and summation operationsperformed on floating point values. Additionally, many of theseoperations can be performed in parallel. Consequently, in some examples,a CNN 20, with its large number of floating point operations, may befavorably implemented on one or more Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) 62,which may have one or more cores, to take advantage of the parallelprocessing and high FLoating-point Operations Per Second (FLOPS)capabilities of such processors. However, the computational intensity ofa CNN 20 may increase greatly when, in addition to providingclassification functionality, a CNN 20 is used to provide detectionand/or locating functionalities, as discussed in greater detail withrespect to the following figure.

Referring to FIG. 3A, a portion 66 of an image of a road scene isdepicted. However, unlike the image 22 a being processed in FIG. 2 , inwhich the classifiable object, i.e., the stop sign, dominates the image,classifiable objects of interest in the portion of the image 66 includetraffic lights 68 a-b and the pedestrian 70 a, which occupy a muchsmaller sectors of the image portion 66. Consequently, the signal fromsuch classifiable objects may be overcome by other elements in theimage, when processed as a whole, and/or not otherwise detected.

Furthermore, for the purposes of an assisted and/or automated drivingsystem, not only the detection and/or classification of an object areimportant, but also the location of the object within an image. Forexample, whether a pedestrian 70 is within and/or approaching anoncoming portion of the pathway of the vehicle 10 for which the image iscaptured, or remains safely on the periphery, may be of paramountimportance. However, with respect to a single input image, thearchitecture of the CNN 20 has a track record of accuracy for detectionand classification of objects dominating an image, but the design of theCNN 20 is ill suited to locate objects. The very positional invarianceof the filters 46 tiled in an overlapping manner across an impute image,which are so helpful to classification, obscure an objects relativelocation in an image.

A first approach, denoted by the circled number 1, that has been appliedto overcome such limitations in locating objects is to apply a slidingwindow 72 a over an image, as depicted with respect to the portion 66 ofthe image depicted in FIG. 3A. Such a window 72 extracts and/orabstracts the sector 74 of the image over which the sliding window 72 isoverlaid. The extracted and/or abstracted sector 74 may then be appliedto a CNN 20 for purposes of object detection and/or classification,along the lines of the forward feed described above with respect to FIG.2 .

The sliding window 72 a then slides horizontally or vertically, onepixel at a time and then extracts and/or abstracts another sector 74 ofthe image for processing, such that the subsequent sector 74 overlapsthe previous sector 74, as demonstrated by the residual outlines of thesectors 74 on the image. The sliding window 72 a continues this processuntil it has exhaustively covered the image. In this way, regardless ofthe where in the image an object may be located, it may be detected andclassified. Furthermore, by sliding pixel by pixel, as opposed toplacing the window 72 a at the opposite side of its previous boundary,the depiction of an object sliced by such a boundary will not be missed.Also, by keeping track of the coordinates of the abstracted sectors 74applied to a CNN 20, the relative location in an image of an objectdetected and classified can be obtained from the coordinates of thesector 74 in which the object is detected.

As can be appreciated, applying each overlapping sector 74 individuallyto a CNN 20 can increase the already computationally intense operationsof processing an image with a CNN 20 by orders of magnitude. The largecomputational increases can further be highlighted upon considerationthat the portion 66 of the image depicted in FIG. 3A likely does notmake up the entire image of the road scene. Furthermore, since the scaleat which classifiable objects may be detected will diminish or increasebased on the distance of the object relative to the camera 16, accordingto the laws of perspective, it is often necessary to apply multiplewindows 72 a-n of different sizes, each of which extracting its own setof sections 74 to be processed individually.

For, example, while the first window 72 a depicted in FIG. 3A may belarge enough to detect and classify the pedestrian 70 a, it may be toolarge to detect and classify the traffic lights 68 a,b. A second window72 b may be applied to detect the traffic lights 68 a,b, but would betoo small to detect the pedestrian 70 a. Hence, multiple windows 72 a-nmay need to be applied.

Therefore, this first approach, albeit thorough, is not onlycomputationally intense, but very time consuming, as indicated by theclock icon. Conversely, the human eye and brain can process the gist ofa road scene in under a tenth of a second, giving a human driver time toreact and/or to respond to objects in a road scene. Assisted and/orautomated driving systems also need to acquire information on such timescales in order to respond to rapidly approaching objects ofsignificance in an oncoming road scene. Processing fifteen to thirtyimages per second, of which only a portion 66 is depicted in FIG. 3A,according to the first approach is not feasible for meeting the needs ofassisted and/or automated driving systems.

Referring to FIG. 3B, a second approach, indicated by the circled numbertwo, is depicted. According to this second approach, contextualinformation is relied upon to reduce the locations from which, thedensities at which, and/or the scales for which sections 74 a-n areextracted and/or abstracted from an image for application to a CNN 20.For example, the number and/or different scales of sectors 74 extractedand/or abstracted from an image may be greatly reduced in an upperregion of an image, which would often be occupied by the sky.Additionally, such an approach may focus on the region directly in frontof the vehicle, or just off to the side, giving reduced attention toregions more to the periphery.

However, although this second approach may greatly speed up imageprocessing, it does so at an unacceptable cost of leaving many gaps inthe field of view of an image for false negatives, i.e., incorrectdeterminations that objects are not present when they in fact are. Forexample, the upper portion of a road scene may be important where a caris headed downhill, resulting in portions of the image that wouldnormally be devoted to the sky depicting the road ahead. By way ofanother example, portions of the periphery that may not be important forobjects approaching slowly from the side may be very relevant where theobjects are approaching rapidly from the side. Several other examplesmay arise upon further reflection.

Also, even where such a contextual approach abstracts and/or extracts asection 74 for application to a CNN 20 that depicts a classifiableobject, the size of the extracted portion may be insufficient and/or maynot be correctly positioned to abstract a sufficient amount of thedepicted region. For example, FIG. 3B depicts a series of sections 74c-f that may be abstracted from the image portion 66 for whichcontextual information, derived, for example and without limitation,from previous image processing and/or relative positions in the imageportion 66, indicates correspond to an adjacent lane or an abutting curband sidewalk. Processing of the first three sections 74 c-e correctlyindicate the absence of pedestrians, as indicated by the check-marksymbols and minus signs.

However, the right-most section 74 f results in a false negative, asindicated by the barred circle. The right-most section 74 f not onlyappears to be a too small to capture the region of the image portion 66depicting the pedestrian, but is also ill positioned so as not tocapture the head, chest, back arm, and back leg of the pedestrian.Classification within the right-most section 74 f is further complicatedby the presence of the traffic light post 76. Whereas a correctly sizedand positioned image would result in a positive detection andclassification of the pedestrian 70 a in the correct location, thesecond approach results in a dangerous false negative. Even if thesecond approach were able to detect and classify the pedestrian 70, theill positioned sector 74 f would have provided misleading locationinformation.

Although the second approach in FIG. 3B may speed up the processing rateof images to provide classification, detection, and/or locatinginformation quickly enough to allow for response, it does so at with anunacceptable cost to accuracy. The pedestrian 70 a may have beendetected by, for example, a LIDAR subsystem 14. However the camera 16and imaging system would fail to provide the requisite redundancy and orability to provide completeness and to fill in gaps of other subsystems12, 14 requisite to achieve the levels of statistical certainty requiredby assisted and/or automated driving systems.

Also with respect to FIG. 3B, a third approach is depicted in which animage, or portion 66 thereof, is divided into different grid cells 78 byapplying a grid 80 thereto. The grid 80 applied to the image portion 66in FIG. 3A includes four rows and four columns, resulting in sixteengrid cells 78. In the third approach, grid cells 78 may completely spanan image so that the image is considered in its entirety. Also, in thisthird approach, the outputs 60 in the output layer 58 of a CNN 20 may beequal to the number of grid cells 78, with each output 60 indicatingwhether a pedestrian 70 is present in the corresponding grid cell 78.During image processing, grid cells 78 can be processed simultaneouslyto speed up processing, with different filters 46 applied to differentgrid cells 78. By applying a fully-connected layer in a neural-networkportion 28 of the classifier, the output 60 for one grid cell 78 may beinformed by contextual information for other grid cells 78.

During training, as opposed to using a cropped image of an object thatthe network may be trained to classify, detect, and/or locate, inapproaches similar to the third approach, training occurs on images oflarger environments in which one or more classifiable objects, such aspedestrians, may occupy only a fraction of the training images, fittingwithin one or more grid cells 78. Such images are labeled both in termsof the classifiable objects that they may depict and which grid cell(s)78 in which they are depicted. Additionally, overhead may be involved ingenerating differently labelled datasets by shifting and/orreconfiguring images in the original training dataset so that theclassifiable objects therein may appear in different grid cells 78.

When applied to test images, the grid cells 78 for which thecorresponding outputs 60 indicate the presence of classifiable objectsmay be used as candidates to be applied to one or more additionalclassifiers. A secondary classifier, applied to a single grid cell 78,may be trained with images, including cropped images dominated byclassifiable objects. Such training images may be labeled in accordancewith the classifiable object they depict, requiring a different systemof classification labels.

Also, the third approach is problematic where objects, such as thepedestrian 70 lie at the intersection of grid cells 78. For example,while the eighth grid cell 78 f covers much of the depicted pedestrian70 a, it also truncates the pedestrian 70 a by excluding the legs of thepedestrian 70 a. Such incongruities between grid cells 78 and depictedobjects cause problems for the classification, detection, and/or thelocating of objects. As another example of a problem depicted in FIG.3B, if the classifiable object depicted, such as the pedestrian 70 a, isof a different scale, such as the pedestrian 70 a that extends outsideof the eighth grid cell 78 f, the classifier may not be well trained forclassifying, detecting, and locating the depicted object.

Therefore, new approaches are needed to leverage the newly achievedaccuracy of CNNs 20 to improve assisted and/or autonomous driving. Suchapproaches need to be simultaneously accurate, exhaustive, and provideclassification, detection, and location information at speeds allowingfor timely responses for assisted and/or autonomous driving. Suchapproaches, should perform with equal reliability regardless of therelative position and/or scale of the depiction of a classifiableobject. The approaches should be trainable with low overhead andtraining times susceptible to fine tuning, despite the large numbers oftraining images used train to acceptable levels of accuracy.

By way of providing a brief overview of exemplary approaches toaddressing these requirements, hierarchical, multi-stage approaches maybe implemented. Stages in such approaches may include both alow-fidelity classifier and a high-fidelity classifier. The low-fidelityclassifier may be implemented on a set of processors, also referred toherein as a processer set. As used herein, the terms set and subset mayinclude any number of elements, including a single element. Thelow-fidelity classifier may be operable to select one or more candidateregions, from a set of overlapping regions, also referred to herein as aregion set, spanning a down-sampled version of an image.

The image may be provisioned from an automobile-affixed camera 16capturing road-scenes. The low-fidelity classifier may select one ormore candidate regions upon determining the candidate regions(s) depicta classified object, such as a pedestrian 70 or traffic sign, for whichthe low-fidelity classifier is trained. Such multistage approaches mayalso include a high-fidelity classifier, which also may be implementedon the processer set.

The high-fidelity classifier may be operable to verify classified-objectdepiction in one or more patches. The patch(es) may be mapped from thecandidate region(s), selected by the low-fidelity classifier, to ahigh-fidelity version of the image. The high-fidelity classifier mayalso be trained to classify, detect, and/or locate the classifiedobject, but with higher fidelity. The high-fidelity classifier may,therefore, verify a classified depiction in a patch mapped from acandidate region, where the high-fidelity classifier indicates thedepiction.

In such approaches, the low-fidelity classifier may include a first CNN20 that is trained with a down-sampled training set. The down-sampledtraining set may include multiple, labeled, down-sampled versions ofimages of objects in a class characterizing the classified object. Thelabeled, down-sampled versions may have dimensions commensurate todimensions of regions in the region set. Similarly, the high-fidelityclassifier may include a second CNN 20. This second CNN 20 is trainedwith a high-resolution training set comprising multiple, labeled,high-fidelity versions of images of objects in the class.

In some examples, at least some of the down-sampled versions in thedown-sampled training set may be down-sampled to a lowest resolution atwhich entropies in the down-sampled versions remain above a thresholddefined relative to entropies in the original images of objects in theclass. In some, but not necessarily all such examples, the predeterminedpercent of entropy may come from a range centered on eighty percent andextending above and below eighty percent by five percent.

With respect to test images, as opposed to the images used to train thefirst and second CNNs 20, in some examples, a down-sample module mayalso be implemented on the processor set. The down-sample module may beoperable to produce the down-sampled version of the image from theautomobile-affixed camera 16 at a down-sample factor. In such examples,the down-sample factor may be determined to preserve, in thedown-sampled version, a predetermined percent of entropy in the imagefrom camera.

Additionally, or in the alternative, some examples may include a windowmodule, which may be implemented on the processor set. The window modulemay be operable to abstract overlapping regions from the down-sampledversion of a test image. Such overlapping regions may have dimensions ascan be framed by a window slid fully across the down-sampled version,for purposes of generating the region set. The window module and/or thelow-fidelity classifier may then apply the overlapping regions of theregion set to the low-fidelity classifier. With respect to thehigh-fidelity classifier, some examples may include a mapping moduleoperable to map one or more candidate regions from the down-sampledversion of the image to one or more patches of the high-fidelity versionof the image. As a result, the candidate region and the patch may covera common sector of the image in the down-sampled version and thehigh-fidelity version respectively.

As can be appreciated, much of the structure and functionalitiesdiscussed with respect to elements disclosed herein, may be provided bymodules. Modules may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment,an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software,micro-code, etc.), or an embodiment combining software and hardwareaspects. Furthermore, aspects of the presently discussed subject mattermay take the form of a computer program product embodied in any tangiblemedium of expression having computer-usable program code.

With respect to software aspects, any combination of one or morecomputer-usable or computer-readable media may be utilized. For example,a computer-readable medium may include one or more of a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) device, aread-only memory (ROM) device, an erasable programmable read-only memory(EPROM or Flash memory) device, a portable compact disc read-only memory(CDROM), an optical storage device, and a magnetic storage device. Inselected embodiments, a computer-readable medium may comprise anynon-transitory medium that may contain, store, communicate, propagate,or transport the program for use by, or in connection with, theinstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the presentinvention may be written in any combination of one or more programminglanguages, including an object-oriented programming language such asC++, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language, or similar programming languages. Aspects of amodule that are implemented with software may be executed on amicro-processor, Central Processing Unit (CPU) and/or the like. Anyhardware aspects of the module may be implemented to interact withsoftware aspects.

As can be appreciated, the foregoing overview is not exhaustive ofinnovations involved in such approaches. Several additional aspects ofsuch approaches are discussed below. A dataset used in such newapproaches for purposes of training a low-fidelity classifier isdiscussed in further detail with respect to the following figure.

Referring to FIG. 4 , aspects of a first dataset 82 a, stored at one ormore databases 84 a, are depicted for the training of a first stage inmulti-stage, hierarchical approaches that satisfy the requirementsdiscussed above. A database 84 may be stored on one or more physicalstorage mediums, such as, but without limitation, those discussed hereinbelow. This first stage may be a low-fidelity classifier implemented asa CNN 20. The first dataset 82 a, also referred to herein as adown-sampled training set 82 a and/or a down-sampled set 82 a, may bemade up of versions 86 of images objects.

The down-sampled training set 82 a may include multiple, cropped,labeled, down-sampled images/versions 86 a-n of images 88 a-n depictingobjects in a set of classes for which the low-fidelity classifier isbeing trained to perform classification, detection, and/or locationfunctions. In FIG. 4 , relative dimensions of a field of view of atraining image 90 a relative to a section 92 a, region 92 a, or zone 92a, of a cropped portion 88 a, which is expanded for purposes ofillustration, of the road-scene image 90 a depicting a classified object94 a, namely, a stop sign 94 a. In some examples, cropping may beachieved by framing the classified object 94 within a training image 90to dominate the image 90.

Also depicted in FIG. 4 , is a resolution module 96 operable todown-sample 98 a the training image 90 a, and/or down-sample 98 b thecropped portion 88 a. In the example depicted in FIG. 4 , the resolutionmodule 96 may down-sample 98 by a factor of four with respect to eachdimension. However, as can be appreciated, the factor with respect to agiven dimension, or both dimensions, may vary.

By way of providing an example of guidance for determining such factors,the down-sampled images 86 a-n in the first dataset 82 a may includefully down-sampled images 86 that are down-sampled 98 to a limitresolution. The resolution module 96 may apply and/or calculate thelimit resolution as a lower limit on resolution capable of maintainingat least a predetermined percentage of entropy relative to an original,cropped image 88 a from which a corresponding down-sampled image 86 a/nis generated. In some examples, this limit resolution may depend on thesize, or scale, for which a cropped image 88 is being down sampled.

In other words, methods applying the disclosures herein may involvecalculating a maximum factor by which the image 88 can be down-sampledto generate a down-sampled image/version 86 while maintaining a ratio ofentropy in the down-sampled image/version 86 to entropy in the originalimage 88 above a predetermined threshold level and/or maintaining anabsolute value of entropy, which may be scale dependent. As indicated bythe down-sampling icon, with arrows radiating inward from a circularperimeter, in some, but not necessarily all such examples, thepredetermined percent of entropy may come from a range centered oneighty percent and extending above and below eighty percent by fivepercent.

Additionally, for purposes of training, each cropped, down-sampled image86 a-n may be labeled with a corresponding label 100 a-n classifying thedepicted object 94. Although all of the labels 100 a in FIG. 4 identifythe same class, i.e., stop signs, the labels 100 a may come from abroader, label set 102 a. This broader label set 102 a may includelabels 100 for several different classes of objects 94 in a broader setof detection classes. Examples of such classes may include pedestrians70, different types of pedestrians 70 (such as children), animals,vehicles, traffic signs, road markings, curb boundaries, and/or anyother objects that may be pertinent to the decision processes ofassisted and/or automated driving systems.

Hence, collecting a training set of images 82 a, may involve collectinga set of images 88 depicting pedestrians 70 in various positions andcontexts for inclusion within the set of images 82 a. In such examples,images labeling the training set 82 a may be done according to a commonclass in the set of detection classes. In as much as classified objects94, which may be depicted at different relative distances, may bedepicted at different sizes, the low-fidelity classifier, and/or highfidelity classifier may be trained with different image, or version,sizes, or scales, for one or more classes of objects in the set ofdetection objects. Collecting a training set of images 82 may includecropping a set of images 88 of classified objects 94 at a set of one ormore image sizes for different classes and/or within the same class ofthe set of detection classes. Hence, FIG. 4 depicts the cropping ofdown-sampled images/versions 86 a/n at different image sizes, or scales.

Different image sizes, or scales may correspond to differentresolutions. Consequently, in some examples, different image/versions 86may be generated for different version/image sizes, or scales, for acommon detection class by further down sampling 104 to further decreaseresolution. FIG. 4 depicts a first down-sampled version 86 a, which isfurther down sampled 104 to produce a further down-sampled version 86 nof the cropped image 88 a. The further down-sampled version 86 n maystand in for a depiction of the same stop sign 94 a depicted at a newportion 106 a of the down-sampled image 100 a, corresponding to agreater relative distance from the camera 16 and correspondinglydiminished by the laws of perspective.

Referring to FIG. 5 , the use of the low-fidelity dataset 82 a to traina low-fidelity classifier 108 a is further explained. The low-fidelityclassifier 108 a may comprise a CNN 20 a. The low-fidelity classifier108 a is simply symbolic of a low-fidelity classifier 108 implementedwith a CNN 20 and is depicted with only a single convolution layer 26with a filter depth of only three for ease of illustration. However, inan actual implementation of the low-fidelity classifier 108, all of thepossibilities for the CNN 20 discussed with respect to FIG. 2 ,including the neural-network portion 28, are open to the low-fidelityclassifier 108.

The training of the low-fidelity classifier 108 a may be accomplishedwith the down-sampled set of labeled images 82 a and the many cropped,down-sampled, labeled images/versions 86 a-n therein. The number ofcropped, down-sampled, labeled images/versions 86 a-n may vary from thethousands to the millions. Consequently, previous applications of CNNs20 for image classification, detection, and/or locating have entailedtraining times measured in days to weeks, and even many hours on supercomputers.

The speed with which an image/version 86 may be applied to thelow-fidelity classifier 108 a determines whether differentconfigurations for the low-fidelity classifier 108 a are feasible and/orwhether it is feasible to reconfigure, retrain and/or fine tune thelow-fidelity classifier 108 a. By using down-sampled images/versions 86,the number of computations required to forward feed 110 an image/version86 to the low-fidelity classifier 108 a may be decreased by orders ofmagnitude, from, for example and without limitation, millions tothousands. As a result, the time to apply the dataset 82 a to thelow-fidelity classifier 108 a can be reduced from weeks to hours,allowing the low-fidelity classifier 108 a to be implemented with awider range of possible configurations, retrained and/or fine-tuned toproduce more accurate results.

By way of explanation, a first down-sampled image/version 86 a from thedown-sampled set 82 a may be forward fed 110 a through the low-fidelityclassifier 108 a, from the input layer 42 b to the output layer 58 b.Although only a single output 60 aa is depicted in FIG. 5 , as discussedwith respect to FIG. 2 , the output layer 58 b may include any number ofoutputs 60 aa-an. Each output 60 may correspond to a different classfrom a set of classes for which the low-fidelity classifier 108 is beingtrained. Furthermore, each output 60 may indicate a probability as towhether or not the image/version 86 being forward fed 110 to thelow-fidelity classifier 108 depicts a classified object 94 in the classassigned to the output 60.

In the depiction provided in FIG. 5 , the first image/version 86 a hasbeen forward fed 110 a through the low-fidelity classifier 108 a.Incorrectly, however, the output 60 aa assigned to the class of depictedobjects 94 a that are traffic signals, or more particularly, stop signs94 a, does not indicate that the first down-sampled image/version 86 adepicts a stop sign 94 a. As discussed above, images/versions 86 in theset of images 82 a may be classified according to a set of detectionclasses by labels 100 assigned to the images/versions 86.

Consequently, the labels 100 may be leveraged to implement a supervisedlearning approach to machine learning to train the low-fidelityclassifier 108 a. For example, the incorrect result may be discoveredand utilized to further train the low-fidelity classifier 108 a bycomparing 112 a the output 60 aa, indicated as not finding a probabilityof a depiction by the ‘x’ character, to the label 100 a corresponding tothe first version/image 86 a. The incorrect result 60 aa indicates thatelements of the low-fidelity classifier 108 a, such as, withoutlimitation, the filters 46-1 a to 46-1 n, the hidden layers 54, andbiases 56, require further additional adjustments. Such adjustments canbe determined by applying a backward propagation of errors method 114,referred herein as backpropagation 114.

One or more processors, which may include one or more GPUs 62, mayimplement the backpropagation 114 a by applying an optimization methodacross the low-fidelity classifier 108 a from the output layer 58 b tothe input layer 42 b. The optimization method may involve a performancefunction. In some examples, the low-fidelity classifier 108 a may betrained by minimizing, or maximizing, the performance function, whichmay be, by way of example and not limitation, one-half the squareddifference between the result indicated by the label 100 a and theactual probability of the output 60 aa, as in a least-squares approach.In some examples, binary values of one and zero can be assigned to thedepiction of the relevant object and the lack of such a depiction,respectively, or vice versa, as indicated by the corresponding label100.

Since, as discussed with respect to FIG. 2 , a smooth, non-linearfunction 40 a-n, 52 a-n may be applied to all weights/values throughoutthe low-fidelity classifier 108 a, a derivative of the performancefunction may be used to indicate the direction and relative amounts bywhich to adjust the weights/values to minimize the performance function.Hence the optimization method may be implemented as a gradientdescent/ascent method, such as a stochastic gradient descent/ascentmethod. However, the large numbers of adjustable weights/values in thelow-fidelity classifier 108 a, complicate the problem of differentiationdue to the high dimensionality of the space for the performancefunction.

Backpropagation 114 provides an approach for differentiating theperformance function in terms of the partial derivatives of the variousadjustable weights/values in the low-fidelity classifier 108 a. Inaccordance with backpropagation 114, to find the partial derivative ofthe performance function with respect to a given adjustableweight/value, the chain rule may be applied. In applying the chain ruleto find the partial derivative of a given adjustable weight/value, thepartial derivative with respect to a given adjustable weight/value ismultiplied by the partial derivatives of any inputs leading into theperformance function between the given adjustable weight/value and theoutput 60 aa.

By working backwards, layer by layer, from the output layer 58 b towardthe input layer 42 b in calculating the partial derivatives ofadjustable weights/values, therefore, backpropagation 114 can reuse thecalculations of partial derivatives from the previous layer(s). Morespecifically, backpropagation 114 can use these calculations of partialderivatives when applying the chain rule and finding the product of allthe intervening partial derivatives between the subject adjustableweight/value and the output(s) 60. In other words, backpropagation 114proceeds by calculating an adjustment, often scaled by a rate factor toprevent significantly overshooting a final answer, for the adjustableweights/values for each neuron/node in a layer.

Backpropagation 114 may begin at a layer closest to the output layer 58b, such as a hidden layer 54. Backpropagation 114 may continue bycalculating the weights/values for each neuron/node in the next closestlayer until the input layer 42 b is reached. The calculated adjustmentsmay then be applied to their corresponding adjustable weights/values andthe performance function recalculated. Backpropagation 114 then iteratesthrough this process until the performance function is sufficientlyminimized and/or maximized. Because of the iterative nature of thisprocess, the savings in calculations and time achieved by utilizingdown-sampled images/version 86 for training are multiplied for eachimage/version 86 used in training by the number of iterations requiredand the number of images/versions 86 in the training set 82 a.

Whereas each neuron/node in the neural-network portion 28 may involvetaking the partial derivative of an action function with respect to asingle adjustable weight/value, within convolution sublayers 30 of theconvolution portion 24, each neuron/node 36 presents an action function,in terms of its corresponding filter 46, with a multidimensional matrixof variables. When applying backpropagation 114 to a convolutionsublayer 30, the partial derivative may be taken of the convolutionfunction with respect to each indexed, adjustable weight/value of thecorresponding filter 46.

Once the performance function is minimized, or maximized, anotherimage/version 86 n may be forward fed 110 b through the low-fidelityclassifier 108 a, to provide further training. As depicted, anotherimage/version 86 n may have a different scale. As depicted by the twoenlarged instances of the first and second images/versions 86 a/n, adifference in scale is also a difference of resolution with respect tothe depicted, classified object 94 a.

At first, the various adjustable weights/values in the low-fidelityclassifier 108 a may be selected at random, they may be initializedbased on the training of other networks, and/or they may be initializedbased on various image processing techniques. Also, in some examples,one or more layers may be determined by an unsupervised learningprocess. The high-fidelity classifier may be trained in a similarmanner, as discussed with respect to the following figure.

Referring to FIG. 6 , a high-fidelity classifier 116 a, which may serveas the second stage in the multi-stage image analysis system, isdepicted in the context of its training. Whereas, the down-sampledimages 86 a-n for which a low-fidelity classifier 108 may be trained, asdiscussed above, to provide speed and flexibility during the trainingprocess and speed and extensive coverage during classifying, detecting,and/or locating objects 94 in a road-scene image in a first stage, ahigh-fidelity classifier 116 may be trained to provide improved accuracyin a second stage, to achieve an accuracy goal for no, or substantiallyno, misses and few false alarms. Also, because of the additionalaccuracy provided by a high-fidelity classifier 116, a low-fidelityclassifier 108 may be trained for a high recall, and/or sensitivity,with respect to the candidate region(s) it selects, trusting thehigh-fidelity classifier 116 to remove irrelevant candidates.

As with the low-fidelity classifier 108 a, the high-fidelity classifier116 a may implement a CNN 20. Also, the high-fidelity classifier 116 ain FIG. 6 is simply symbolic and is, therefore, only depicted with asingle convolution layer 26 with only three filters 46-2 a to 46-2 n forease of illustration. Again, an actual high-fidelity classifier 116 mayimplement any combination of the possibilities for a CNN 20 discussedwith respect to FIG. 2 , including a neural-network portion 28. Becauseof distinct roles played by the high-fidelity classifier 116, details ofthe architectures for the high-fidelity classifier 116 and thelow-fidelity classifier 108 may, or may not, vary.

Additionally, because of its different roles, the high-fidelityclassifier 116 a, with its second CNN 20, may be operable to be trainedon a second dataset 82 b, which may differ from the first dataset 82 a,used to train the low-fidelity classifier 108 a. The second dataset 82b, also referred to herein as a high-resolution training set 82 b, orsimply as an image set 82 b, may include images 88 a-n. These images 88a-n may also be cropped. However, these images 88 a-n may be maintainedat higher resolutions, and/or fidelity, relative to the images/versions86 a-n in the first dataset used 82 a to train the low-fidelityclassifier 108 a. In some examples, for which the high-fidelityclassifier 116 a is trained for multiple different sizes and/or scales,the resolution for an image 88 at a smaller size/scale may be less thanthe resolution of an image/version 86 at a larger scale in the firstdataset 82 a. However, at a common size/scale, images in the seconddataset 82 b may be provided at higher resolutions than those in thefirst dataset 82 a.

In some examples, the images 88 a-n in the second dataset 82 b mayinclude the same images 88 a-n used to create the first dataset 82 a,but without down sampling 98, and/or with less down sampling 98.Additionally, or in the alternative, the second dataset 82 b may includenew and different, albeit comparable, images 88 selected for purposes oftraining the high-fidelity classifier 116 a. For purposes of continuityand to enable the high-fidelity classifier to better check the candidateregion(s) selected by the low-fidelity classifier 108 a, the images 88in the second dataset 82 b may be labeled with labels 100 from the samelabel set 102 a as those used with respect to the first dataset 82 a.

Once trained on the second dataset 82 b, the high-fidelity classifier116 a may re-classify, relative to the label set 102 a, an area of aroad-scene image, at high fidelity, covering the section(s), probablezone(s), and/or candidate region(s), selected by the low-fidelityclassifier 108 a. In this way, the high-fidelity classifier 116 a may beused to confirm the depiction of an object 94 classified according tothe label set 102 a. Because of the increased resolutions, trainingtimes for the high-fidelity classifier 116 a may increase, butadjustments and fine tuning may still be made with relative ease throughthe low-fidelity classifier 108 a.

For purposes of explaining the training process, an exemplary image 88 afrom the second dataset 82 b is depicted. The second dataset 82 b may bestored on the same set of databases 84 a, or different set of databases84 b, as the first dataset 82 a. The image 88 a, as with theimages/versions 86 a/n discussed in the explanation of the low-fidelityclassifier 108 a, is labeled with the label 100 a for the classifiableobject 94 of a stop sign 94 a.

The image 88 a may be forward fed 110 c through the high-fidelityclassifier 116 a, from the input layer 42 c to the output layer 58 c,which may provide a probability that the image 88 a depicts one or moreclassifiable object 94 assigned to the one or more nodes 60 ba-bn of theoutput layer 58 c As with the low-fidelity classifier 108 a, if thedifference between the probability and the value indicated by the label100 a is above an acceptable amount, the backpropagation 114 b process,as discussed above, may be applied. Backpropagation 114 may beimplemented and/or iterated through until any significant difference isresolved. At which point, a next image 88 from the dataset 82 b may beforward fed 110 through the high-fidelity classifier 116 a, and theprocess repeated. Again, the number of cropped, labeled images 88 a-nmay vary from the thousands to the millions.

The higher resolutions in the second dataset 82 b, and/or in a candidatesector(s)/zone(s)/region(s), may provide additional information withwhich to improve the accuracy with which detecting, classifying, and/orlocating may be performed on road-scene images. However, since thenumber of candidate regions from a road-scene image are limited by thelow-fidelity classifier 108 a, the high-fidelity classifier 116 a can beincluded in a hierarchical multi-stage system without contributingprohibitive amounts of computation and/or time for purposes of assistedand/or autonomous driving applications. Once the low-fidelity classifier108 a and the high-fidelity classifier 116 a have been trained,therefore, they may be applied to classifying, detecting, and/orlocating classified objects 94 in images for purposes of assisted and/orautonomous driving applications.

Referring to FIG. 7 , a down-sample module 118 is depicted. The downsample module 118 may be implemented on the processor set and/or adifferent processor set. The down-sample module 118 may generate adown-sampled version 120 of an image 122 from an automobile-affixedcamera 116 capturing oncoming road-scenes by down-sampling 98 the image122 to a down-sampled image/version 120 of the image122. Oncedown-sampled, the down-sampled image/version 120 may be analyzed by thelow-fidelity classifier 108 a of the image analysis system.

As with the down-sampled training set 82 a, the factor, with respect toany or all dimensions, by which the down-sample module 118 may downsample 98 c a road-scene image 122 a may, may be determined, is someexamples, to maintain a predetermined percent, ratio, or absolute valueof entropy in the down-sampled version 120 a relative to the entropy inthe image 122 a from the camera 16. Again, the predetermined percent ofentropy may come from a range centered on eighty percent and extendabove and below eighty percent by five percent. In some examples, thefactor(s) may be determined to be as high as possible while maintainingthe entropy in the down-sampled version 120 a above a predeterminedthreshold value for a ratio or absolute value.

In the example depicted in FIG. 7 , the original road-scene image 122 ahas resolution dimensions of 1280 by 960, but any number of differentresolutions are possible. Because the road-scene image 122 a is downsampled 98 c by a factor of four, the down-sampled version 120 a has aresolution of 320 by 240. Again, however, any number of differentdown-sampling factors and/or resolutions are possible for thedown-sampled version 120 a. The down-sampled version 120 a may be fed tothe input layer 42 b of the low-fidelity classifier 108 a for the speedyand extensive, and/or exhaustive, preliminary analysis of the field ofview captured in both the road-scene image 122 a and the down-sampledversion 120 a.

As indicated, the field of view captured may vary. Possible fields ofview defined with angles of view with respect to azimuth of seventydegrees and eighty degrees are indicated in FIG. 7 by way of example andnot limitation. Other non-limiting examples can include fifteen degreesand three-hundred-and-sixty degrees. Possible fields of view may also bedefined with a similar variety angles of view with respect to a verticaldimension.

Also shown in FIG. 7 , is a portion 124 a of the down-sampled version120 a depicting some of the oncoming road scene. In some examples, theentire down-sampled version 120 a may be fed to the input layer 42 b ofthe low-fidelity classifier 108 a as a series of overlappingsub-regions. In other examples, any number of different overlappingportions 124 of the down-sampled version 120 a may be fed to differentinstances of the low-fidelity classifier 108 a for simultaneousprocessing. The different overlapping portions 124 may be overlapped bya number of pixels in each dimension corresponding to the number ofcells, in the corresponding dimensions, of the largest filters 46 in thelow-fidelity classifier 108 a so that the entire down-sampled version120 a may be processed as though it were processed on a single instanceof the low-fidelity classifier 108 a and without segmentation, such asthe segmentation in prior art approaches discussed with respect to FIG.3B. The portion 124 a depicted is of dimensions ninety-six pixels byninety-six pixels, but any number of different dimensions are possible.

Referring to FIG. 8 , the extraction of a set of overlapping zones 126-1a to 126-1 n, 126-2 a to 126-2 n, 126-3 a to 126-3 n, 126-4 a to 126-4n, also referred to herein as sections and/or regions, covering thedown-sampled version 120 a is depicted. For ease of illustration, theportion 124 a of the down-sampled version 120 a is depicted instead ofthe entire down-sampled version. Nevertheless, the portion 124 a of thedown-sampled version 120 a can be viewed as representative of the entiredown-sampled version 120 a for purposes of discussion.

The overlapping zones 126-1 a to 126-1 n, 126-2 a to 126-2 n, 126-3 a to126-3 n, 126-4 a to 126-4 n may be definable by one or more slidingwindows 128 a-n with dimensions equal to dimensions of different groupsof the overlapping zones 126-1 a to 126-1 n, 126-2 a to 126-2 n, 126-3 ato 126-3 n, 126-4 a to 126-4 n. Some examples may include a windowmodule 130 and/or an application module 132 either on the same processorset as the low-fidelity classifier 108 a or another processor set. Thewindow module 130 may be operable to abstract overlapping regions 126-1a to 126-1 n, 126-2 a to 126-2 n, 126-3 a to 126-3 n, 126-4 a to 126-4n, from the down-sampled version 120 a, as can be framed by at least onewindow 128 a-d slid 134 fully across the down-sampled version 120 a, fora region set, also referred to herein as a set of overlapping zones, aset of overlapping sections, and/or a set of scaled zones.

The window module 130 may apply 136 the overlapping regions 126-1 a to126-1 n, 126-2 a to 126-2 n, 126-3 a to 126-3 n, 126-4 a to 126-4 n tothe low-fidelity classifier 108 a. Similarly, in alternative examples,the application module 132 may canvass 134 the full field of viewcaptured by the low-resolution image 120 a by applying 136 overlappingsections 126-1 a to 126-1 n, 126-2 a to 126-2 n, 126-3 a to 126-3 n,126-4 a to 126-4 n of the low-resolution image 120 a to the low-fidelityclassifier 108 a. As each region 126 of the region set is applied 136 tothe low-fidelity classifier 108 a, it is convolved 138 with filters 46-3a to 46-3 n as it is forward fed 110 through the low-fidelity classifier108 a.

To generate a region set to apply 136 to the low-fidelity classifier 108a, the window module 130 and/or application module 132 may slide 134 awindow 128 from a first region 126 across the down-sampled version 120a, and/or portion 124 a thereof, by a predetermined stride. The stridemay be one pixel horizontally, vertically, or both. However, differentnumbers of pixels per stride are also possible as long as there issufficient overlap between strides to center a classifiable object 94 inan abstracted region 126 and accurately locate the object 94. In someexamples, contextual information may be used to vary the stride indifferent regions of the down-sampled version 120 a and/or portion 124 athereof. A region 126, zone 126, and/or section 126 may be abstractedand/or included in the region set from each position at which thesliding window 128 resides. Hence, the number of sections 126 in theregion set for a given window size may be equal to the product of thedimensions of the down-sampled version 120 a and/or portion 124 athereof less the corresponding dimensions of the window 128, minus one,in each dimension.

Therefore, down sampling 98 by a factor of four can reduce the number ofregions to be applied to the low-fidelity classifier 108 a from a roadscene image 122 a of dimensions 1,280 by 960, where zero padding isapplied at image boundaries, from 1,228,800 to 76,000, or two orders ofmagnitude. If portions 124 of dimensions of ninety-six by ninety-six areapplied to multiple instances of the low-fidelity classifier 108 a, thenumber of regions 126 to be applied 136 may be reduced to 9,216. As canbe appreciated, such reductions greatly speed the process ofclassifying, detecting, and/or locating classifiable objects 94. This isparticularly true when sliding windows 128 a-n of multiple differentsizes, or scales, are applied to the down-sampled version 120 a and/orportion 124 a.

In such examples, a first window 128 a may have a first set ofdimensions differing from a second set of dimensions for a second window128 b. The first window 128 a, second window 128 b, and/or additionalwindows 128 c,n, may each be slid 134 across the down-sampled version120 a and/or portion 124 a. In such examples, the first dimensions andthe second dimensions, and/or the dimensions of any additional slidingwindows 128 c,n may correspond to different scales at which objects inthe set of classes can potentially be depicted and detected in thedown-sampled version 120 a of the image 122 a. In other words, thewindow module 130 and/or an abstraction module 132 may abstract a set ofscaled zones from the down-sampled image 120 a, or portion 124 athereof, with scaled zones 126 in the set of scaled zones havingdiffering dimensions from the dimensions of a first sliding window 128 aand commensurate with scaled dimensions of a scaled sliding window 128b.

In such examples, the region set may include multiple subsets fordiffering sizes/scales, such as a first region subset of firstoverlapping regions 126-1 a to 126-1 n with dimensions commensurate tothe first dimensions and a second region subset of second overlappingregions 126-2 a to 126-2 n with dimensions commensurate to the seconddimensions. Also, in some, but not all of such examples, thedown-sampled training set 82 a may include a first down-sampled subsetof first down-sampled versions 86 having dimensions commensurate to thefirst dimensions. The down-sampled training set 82 a may also include asecond down-sampled subset with second down-sampled versions 86 havingdimensions commensurate to the second dimensions. As discussed withrespect to the following figure, the low-fidelity classifier 108 a mayselect one or more candidate regions, from a region set as potentiallydepicting a classifiable object 94.

Referring to FIG. 9 , a hierarchical, multi-stage, image-analysis system140 is depicted. The image-analysis system 140 may include alow-fidelity classifier 108 a followed by a high-fidelity classifier 116a. In some examples, the multi-stage-image-classification system 140 mayinclude, together with both the low-fidelity classifier 108 a and thehigh-fidelity classifier 116 a on a processer set 142, a camera 16. Insome examples, one or more GPUs 62 b, may be included within theprocessor set 142, implementing the low-fidelity classifier 108 a and/orthe high-fidelity classifier 116 a.

As discussed with respect to the first figure, a camera 16 operable tobe mounted on an automobile 10 may be so mounted to capture a seriesroad-scene images 122. Such a camera 16 may capture the series of images122 of oncoming road-scenes at a frame rate satisfying a predefinedthreshold. The predefined threshold may include any of the examplesdiscussed above with respect to FIG. 1 .

Additionally, the system 140 may include an image queue 144, which maybe implemented, without limitation, as a set of buffers, operable tosequentially queue a series of images 122 of oncoming road-scenescaptured by the camera 16. Also, in some examples, the system mayinclude a down-sample module 118 operable to down sample 98 d road-sceneimages 122 to low-resolution images/versions 120. In some examples, theimage queue 144 may queue images 122 direct from the camera 16. In otherexamples, such as the example depicted in FIG. 9 , the image queue 144may store down-sampled versions 120 of the images 122. Additionally,some examples may provide a portion of the image queue 144 for images122 direct from the camera 16 and another portion for down sampledversions 120.

Once a down-sampled version 120 b of a road-scene image 122 a, orportion 124 a thereof, is forward fed 110 d through the low-fidelityclassifier 108 a, the low-fidelity classifier 108 a may select one ormore probable zones 146 a-n from the set of overlapping zones,abstracted/extracted by the window module 130 and/or aggregation module132.

The low-fidelity classifier 108 a, which may be implemented with a firstConvolution Neural Network (CNN) 20 a, may be trained, or operable to betrained on the first dataset 82 a, to classify, relative to the labelset 102 a, one or more sections 144 from the set of overlapping sections126 a-n spanning a down-sampled version 120, or portion thereof 124, ofa road-scene image 122. Consequently, low-fidelity classifier 108 a mayselect the one or more probable zones 146 a-n for which the low-fidelityclassifier 108 a indicates a probability of a presence of an object 94pertaining to a class of objects classifiable by the low-fidelityclassifier 108 b. In some examples, the application module 132 may beoperable to note a set of potential sections 146 a-n in which thelow-fidelity classifier 108 a identifies potential depictions of objects94 classifiable according to the label set 102 a. In examples for whichthe low-fidelity classifier 108 a is trained for multiple sizes, orscales, the low-fidelity classifier 108 a may select a scaled zone 146 nfrom the set of scaled zones for which the low-fidelity classifier 108 aindicates a probability of an existence of a scaled object 94classifiable by the low-fidelity classifier 108 a.

The multi-stage system 140 may then forward feed 110 e the one or moreprobable zones 1446 a-n, or candidate regions 146 a-n selected by thelow-fidelity classifier 108 a through the high-fidelity classifier 116a. Where applying the sector candidates 146 a-n to the high-fidelityclassifier 116 a, which may be implemented with a second CNN 20,indicates the presence of one or more classifiable objects 94 in one ormore of the sector candidates 146 a-n, the high-fidelity classifier 116a may confirm the presence of the one or more objects 94. In exampleswhere the candidate regions 146 a-n include multiple sizes/scales and/orthe high-fidelity classifier 116 a is trained for multiple sizes/scales,the high-fidelity classifier 116 a may confirm the existence of a scaledobject 94, where applying 110 e the candidate scaled sector 146 nresults in a probability of the existence of the scaled object 94. Adetermination module 148 may be included in some examples, which may beoperable to determine a confirmed set of areas by applying thehigh-fidelity classifier 116 a to the set of candidate areas 146 a-n.

The multi-stage system 140 may be hierarchical, such that thelow-fidelity classifier 108 a first selects candidate regions 146 a-nbefore the candidate regions 146 a-n are applied to the high-fidelityclassifier 116 a. However, in some examples, where the low-fidelityclassifier 108 a has found at least one candidate zone 146, thelow-fidelity classifier 108 a may continue searching zones 126 in theset of overlapping zones to which the low-fidelity classifier 108 a hasyet to be applied for one or more additional candidate zones 146. At thesame time, the high-fidelity classifier 116 a may simultaneously confirmthe presence, or depiction, of one or more objects 94 by applying one ormore sectors corresponding to the at least one candidate zone 146 foundpreviously to the high-fidelity classifier 116 a.

Additionally, the image-analysis system 140, may be operable forprocessing the series of images, by applying the foregoing teachings onindividual images 122 in the series of images, at a processing-rate alsosatisfying the predefined threshold. As discussed, the predefinedthreshold may be set to provide sufficient time for a pre-determinedassisted and/or autonomous response by the automobile 10 toclassification information in the series of images. Parameters of one ofor both of the low-fidelity classifier 108 a and the high-fidelityclassifier 116 a may be set to limit computation requirements of thelow-fidelity classifier 108 a and/or the high-fidelity classifier 116 a,relative to computing capabilities of the at least one GPU 62 b and/orprocessor set 142.

Such parameters may include, without limitation, a number of convolutionlayers 26, the depth of one or more convolution layers 26, thedimensions of filters 46 applied at individual convolution neurons/nodes36, the number of hidden layers 54, the depth of one or more hiddenlayers 54, the depth of the output layer 58, and/or other suchparameters. These parameters may be controlled to enable processing theseries of images at a predetermined rate providing real-time access toclassification information in the series of images. In such examples,the GPU set 62 b, in the set of processors 142, may implement the firstand/or second CNNs 20 to capitalize on parallel processing capabilitiesof the GPU 62 b. Again such capabilities may enable the first and/orsecond CNNs 20 to process the series of road-scene images at a rateproviding time for a predetermined, assisted and/or autonomous-vehicleresponse to classification information in the series of road-sceneimages as processed.

In some examples, the classification, detection, and/or locationinformation in the series of road-scene images 122 provided by themulti-stage system 140 may be utilized by itself for assisted and/orautonomous driving applications. In other examples, the classification,detection, and/or location information provided by the multi-stagesystem 140 may be combined with information from one or more additionalinstruments, discussed above in relation to FIG. 1 , for assisted and/orautonomous driving applications. In such examples, an aggregation module150, implemented on the processor set 142, or some other processor set,may be utilized. The aggregation module 150 may be operable to apply thelow-fidelity classifier 108 a with an exhaustive coverage of thedown-sampled version(s) 120 of the image 122 from the camera 16, asapplied to the region set, to provide redundancy to information fromanother imaging subsystem, such as a RADAR subsystem 12 and/or a LIDARsubsystem 14. Additionally, and/or in the alternative, the informationfrom the multi-stage system 140 may supply missing classification,detection, and/or location information absent from classificationinformation provided by another imaging subsystem, and/or improve thestatistical reliability of the same.

Referring to FIG. 10 , additional infrastructure that may be relied uponto interface the low-fidelity classifier 108 a and the high-fidelityclassifier 116 a in the multi-stage system 140 is depicted. Suchinfrastructure may be utilized to overcome the disparate resolutions forwhich the low-fidelity classifier 108 a and the high-fidelity classifier116 a may be trained. Such infrastructure may include a map module 152.The map module 152 may be operable to map 154 a probable zone 146selected from the down-sampled version 120, or portion 124 a thereof, toa sector 156 a, also referred to herein as a patch 156 a and/or area 156a, of a higher-resolution version of the image 122, or a portion 158thereof. Many different approaches to mapping 154 may be employed, suchas, without limitation, taking into account the position of a slidingwindow 128 when it extracted the corresponding candidate region 146 andmultiplying its position in multiple dimension by the down samplingfactor.

Where the multi-stage system 140 is trained for different sizes/scales,the mapping module 152 may map 154 a scaled zone 126 in the down-sampledversion 120, or portion 124 thereof, to a scaled sector 156 of thehigher-resolution version 122. In some examples, the determinationmodule 148, introduced with respect to the previous figure, may beoperable to project the set of potential sections 146 on a high-fidelityversion of the road-scene image 122 to create a set of candidate areasthat may be forward fed 110 through the high-fidelity classifier 116 a.

By way of example, a particular sector 156 a depicting a classifiableobject 94 b of a pedestrian 70 may be forward fed 110 f through thehigh-fidelity classifier 116 a, with the corresponding convolutions 138with filters 46 and other operations. At the output layer 58 d, a node60 ca trained to provide a probability that a sector 156 a depicts aclassifiable object 94 b may cross a threshold value indicating thedetection, indicated by the check symbol. The particular node 60 ca inthe output layer 58 d in which the detection is made may be used toprovide classification information, i.e., that the detected object 94 bis pedestrian 70, which may be the class assigned to the particularoutput node 60 ac. Furthermore, the same information used to map 154 thesection 126 to the particular sector 154 a may be used to determine thelocation 160 of the depicted object 94 b, or pedestrian 70, in theoriginal image 122.

Referring to FIG. 11 , a flow chart 200 depicts steps for quick,accurate, and comprehensive classification, detection, and/or locatingof classifiable objects 94 in images 122 by a multi-stage image analysissystem 140. Such a system 140 may be built with a low-fidelityclassifier 108 a and a high-fidelity classifier 116 a that may be builtaround a pair of CNNs 20. The flowchart illustrates the architecture,functionality, and/or operation of possible implementations of systems,methods, and computer program products according to examples. In thisregard, each block in the flowchart may represent a module, segment, orportion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It will also be notedthat each block of the flowchart illustrations, and combinations ofblocks in the flowchart illustrations, may be implemented byspecial-purpose, hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts, or combinations of special-purpose hardware andcomputer instructions.

Where computer program instructions are involved, these instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block or blocks. These computer programinstructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that maydirect a computer to function in a particular manner, such that theinstructions stored in the computer-readable medium produce an articleof manufacture including instruction means which implement thefunction/act specified in the flowchart and/or block or blocks.

It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, thefunctions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted. Incertain embodiments, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, beexecuted substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionalityinvolved. Alternatively, certain steps or functions may be omitted.

Operations in methods 200 consistent with FIG. 11 , may be grouped astraining operations 202 and testing operations 204. Some examples maysimply involve the training operations 202, others just the testingoperations 204, while still other examples may involve both 202, 204. Inexamples involving both 202, 204, such methods 200 may begin 206 bycropping 208 images 88 of one or more different objects 94 at one ormore different scales. The cropped images 88 may then be down sampled210 with corresponding labels 100 attached.

A determination 212 may be made as to whether or not the entropies ofthe down sampled versions 86 have been reduced to a predetermined valueand/or ratio relative to the original images 88. If the answer is no,methods 200 may return to further down-sample 210 one or more of thepreviously down-sampled versions 86. If the answer is yes, methods 200may proceed by training 214 a low-fidelity classifier 108 a on theresultant down-sampled dataset 82 a of down sampled images/versions 86.Additionally, a high-fidelity classifier 116 a may be trained 216 on ahigh resolution dataset 82 b, which may be made up of the original,cropped images 88.

Methods 200 may proceed to the testing operations 204 by down sampling218 a test image 122. Each region 126 of the down sampled test image 120may be tested on the low-fidelity classifier 108 a as a window 128 withdimensions commensurate to the regions 126 is slid 134 across the downsampled test image 120. A determination 222 may be made as to whetherthe low-fidelity classifier 108 a has selected a candidate region 126 aspotentially depicting a classifiable object 94. If the answer is no,methods 200 may continue to test additional regions 126 of thedown-sampled version 102. However, if the answer is yes, methods mayretrieve 224 one or more sectors 156 of the high resolution image 122corresponding to the candidate regions 146. Each high-resolution sector156 corresponding to a candidate region 146 may be tested 226 on thehigh-fidelity classifier 116 a, which may or may not confirm thepresence of depicted, classified objects 94, and the methods may end228.

The present disclosures may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from their spirit or essential characteristics. The describedexamples are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative, notrestrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by theappended claims, rather than by the foregoing description. All changeswithin the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to beembraced within their scope.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: calculating a maximumfactor by which an input image can be down sampled while maintaining aratio of entropy above a threshold level; down-sampling the input imageto generate a down-sampled image, wherein the down-sampled imagecomprises the ratio of entropy above the threshold level; providing thedown-sampled image to a low-fidelity classifier to identify a probablezone within the down-sampled image that satisfies a thresholdprobability for comprising an object; and forward feeding the probablezone to a high-fidelity classifier trained to confirm a presence of theobject within the probable zone; wherein the low-fidelity classifier andthe high-fidelity classifier are trained on different datasets.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising sequentially queuing a series ofimages captured by a camera and processing the series of images toconfirm the presence of one or more objects within any of the series ofimages, wherein processing the series of images comprises processing ata processing rate that satisfies a predefined threshold.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein the camera is secured to a vehicle and configured tocapture a scene around the vehicle, and wherein the predefined thresholdfor the processing rate enables real time image analysis for analyzingthe scene around the vehicle.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising extracting a set of overlapping zones covering thedown-sampled image, as definable by a sliding window with dimensionsequal to dimensions of the set of overlapping zones.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising extracting a plurality of probable zonesfrom the down-sampled image by sliding a window over the down-sampledimage pixel-by-pixel such that each probable zone of the plurality ofprobable zones is the size of the window and overlaps surroundingprobable zones.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the image is of ascene surrounding a vehicle and wherein the method further comprises:determining whether the object exists in the scene surrounding thevehicle based on whether the presence of the object is confirmed by theclassifier; determining a driving maneuver for the vehicle based onwhether the object exists in the scene surrounding the vehicle; andproviding the driving maneuver to an automated driving system of thevehicle to be executed by the automated driving system.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: cropping each of a plurality of images thatare labeled as comprising the object; down-sampling each of theplurality of images to generate a down-sampled set of images; training alow-fidelity classifier of a neural network with the down-sampled set ofimages; and training a high-fidelity classifier of the neural networkwith at least one of the plurality of images at full resolution.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising mapping the probable zone of thedown-sampled image to a patch within the input image, wherein the inputimage comprises a higher resolution version of the down-sampled image.9. The method of claim 1, wherein the low-fidelity classifier is aconvolutional neural network, and the high-fidelity classifier is aconvolutional neural network, and wherein the low-fidelity classifierfeeds into the high-fidelity classifier and operates independently ofthe high-fidelity classifier.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein forwardfeeding the probable zone to the high-fidelity classifier comprises:mapping the probable zone to a patch in the input image, wherein thepatch in the input image corresponds with the probable zone in thedown-sampled image; and providing the patch to the high-fidelityclassifier.
 11. A system comprising: a vehicle; a camera affixed to thevehicle configured to capture an image of a scene surrounding thevehicle; and a processor in communication with the camera andprogrammable to execute instructions stored in non-transitory computerreadable storage media, the instructions comprising: calculating amaximum factor by which an input image can be down sampled whilemaintaining a ratio of entropy above a threshold level; down-samplingthe input image to generate a down-sampled image, wherein thedown-sampled image comprises the ratio of entropy above the thresholdlevel; providing the down-sampled image to a low-fidelity classifier toidentify a probable zone within the down-sampled image that satisfies athreshold probability for comprising an object; and forward feeding theprobable zone to a high-fidelity classifier trained to confirm apresence of the object within the probable zone; wherein thelow-fidelity classifier and the high-fidelity classifier are trained ondifferent datasets.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructionsfurther comprise sequentially queuing a series of images captured by acamera and processing the series of images to confirm the presence ofone or more objects within any of the series of images, whereinprocessing the series of images comprises processing at a processingrate that satisfies a predefined threshold.
 13. The system of claim 12,wherein the predefined threshold for the processing rate enables realtime image analysis for analyzing the scene around the vehicle.
 14. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the instructions further comprise extractinga set of overlapping zones covering the down-sampled image, as definableby a sliding window with dimensions equal to dimensions of the set ofoverlapping zones.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructionsfurther comprise extracting a plurality of probable zones from thedown-sampled image by sliding a window over the down-sampled imagepixel-by-pixel such that each probable zone of the plurality of probablezones is the size of the window and overlaps surrounding probable zones.16. A processor that is programmable to execute instructions stored innon-transitory computer readable storage media, the instructionscomprising: calculating a maximum factor by which an input image can bedown sampled while maintaining a ratio of entropy above a thresholdlevel; down-sampling the input image to generate a down-sampled image,wherein the down-sampled image comprises the ratio of entropy above thethreshold level; providing the down-sampled image to a low-fidelityclassifier to identify a probable zone within the down-sampled imagethat satisfies a threshold probability for comprising an object; andforward feeding the probable zone to a high-fidelity classifier trainedto confirm a presence of the object within the probable zone; whereinthe low-fidelity classifier and the high-fidelity classifier are trainedon different datasets.
 17. The processor of claim 16, wherein the imageis of a scene surrounding a vehicle and wherein the instructions furthercomprise: determining whether the object exists in the scene surroundingthe vehicle based on whether the presence of the object is confirmed bythe classifier; determining a driving maneuver for the vehicle based onwhether the object exists in the scene surrounding the vehicle; andproviding the driving maneuver to an automated driving system of thevehicle to be executed by the automated driving system.
 18. Theprocessor of claim 16, wherein the instructions further comprise:cropping each of a plurality of images that are labeled as comprisingthe object; down-sampling each of the plurality of images to generate adown-sampled set of images; training a low-fidelity classifier of aneural network with the down-sampled set of images; and training ahigh-fidelity classifier of the neural network with at least one of theplurality of images at full resolution.
 19. The processor of claim 17,wherein the instructions further comprise extracting a plurality ofprobable zones from the down-sampled image by sliding a window over thedown-sampled image pixel-by-pixel such that each probable zone of theplurality of probable zones is the size of the window and overlapssurrounding probable zones.
 20. The processor of claim 16, wherein theinstructions are such that forward feeding the probable zone to thehigh-fidelity classifier comprises: mapping the probable zone to a patchin the input image, wherein the patch in the input image correspondswith the probable zone in the down-sampled image; and providing thepatch to the high-fidelity classifier.